RESTING BED HISTORY

  " Lit à baldaquin" XVII th century                        

 "Chaise longue" Régency period     

    "Lit bateau" Restauration (Charles X) period

                                                 -                                    Although a simple piece, the resting bed was created from a change in habit: Around the middle of the XVIIth century, a new sense of modesty changed the habit of receiving  visit while sitting in bed. Many elegant and famous people used to welcome gests in a comfortable as well as elegant way in bed. This bed close to the mantel and equipped with “ courtines”, ( kind of curtains), provided a warm and discreet comfort.

                                                                                     This bed was  progressively replaced by the “ lit duchesse “ or “ lit d’angle” with smaller curtains, many from the court, cities or province  rejected it and influenced the creation of a new type of bed, the “ lit de jour “ that eventually became the “ lit de repos” and then “ chaise longue”. These pieces were designed to encourage intellectual as well as sentimental exchanges.   

                                                                                     Originally simple and low, the “lit de repos usually had eight to ten legs reinforced with cross sections and sometime an adjustable back.

They were five of these at the “Moliere’s residence, forty eight in Versailles. They were convenient pieces on which one could nap, a feature that pleased women.

Carved, gilded or painted, some were simply filled with horse hair and covered with fabric while others had one or two mattresses. Their size was 1.60 to 2.10 meters long by 0.60 to 0.90 meters wide.

At the end of the XVIIth century, they were equipped with two backs, one on each end and were called “lits en canapés”. This transformation improved the bed’s elegance by bringing some symmetry and sophistication.

                                                                                    At the very beginning of the XVIIIth century, the cross sections of the legs disappeared making the piece a”chaise longue”. Smaller, the piece was now more appropriated to the rooms’ size. Originally an armchair, an additional piece allowed people to strech their legs bringing the number of feet from four to eight. Sick people as well as women giving birth especially enjoyed it.

 "Duchesse brisée" Louis XV period

                                                                                    The ”duchesse brisée” has two parts, an armchair and a kind of stool that can be put together to allow for leg streching. Besides the comfort issue, the piece’s  flexibility is appropriate to the smaller though adaptable rooms.The “méridienne“, very popular in the XIX th century had an elegant asymmetry that suggested rest.Unfortunately, through time, the “chaise longue “ lost its elegance and became a huge shape covered with fabric. During the Louis Philippe period, the wood was not visible anymore and sophisticated upholstery covered the whole piece. Later on, the Rattan would allow interesting interpretations of the piece. Nowadays modern pieces of this kind are characterized by their purity.

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